NASRDA seeks overhaul of tertiary education curriculum

The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) has called for the overhaul of the curriculum of tertiary institutions to align with technological advancements.

NAN reports that Matthew Adepoju, director-general of NASRDA, made the call during an interview in Abuja on Monday.

He emphasised that the significant disparity between graduates’ skills and industry demands has led to “high unemployment rates”.

“The curriculum we have been running for more than 30, 60, 70 years needs a total overhaul because technology has changed,” he said.

“The rule of the game has changed with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics, there is no department that can run core traditional programmes anymore.

“The internship and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programmes are windows for us to see what the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education are turning out.

“We believe that we need a total overhaul of our academic curriculum to fit with the current advancement in technology.

“Now we are in the age of industry 4.0 and we need to position our youths, our next hand to be able to compete both locally and globally.

“Nigeria possesses highly intelligent, competent, and capable youths who must be appropriately positioned.

“We need to infuse technology into every course curriculum and this is how we can play with the developed world.

“We need to look inward and ensure that the robustness of the educational system in China, Malaysia, Europe, and the US is the same here.”

Adepoju added that NASRDA plans to collaborate with stakeholders like the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC)  to incorporate space, science, and technology into the curriculum.

He said new courses “must be introduced and existing ones should integrate new components to achieve this goal”.